Machiavelli — "He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command."

"It is not possible to provide against every inconvenience; but it is necessary to provide against the most important."

"The Romans, in order to hold Capua, Alba, and Ostia, did not destroy them, but gave them their own laws and left them free, and they did not hold them without difficulty."

"Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great."

"Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries—for heavy ones they cannot."

"For there is no other way of guarding oneself from flatterers than by letting men understand that to tell you the truth will not offend you."